Lowrance Gps

[Fishrman]

I have a 26c, and cannot get the gps to work very well. It keeps saying position acquired then in no time it says, position lost. To hook up the unit I had to use a T. The back of the unit has a female end to it, the antenna cable coming out also has a female end. Do they make a cable that has male ends on both ends of the cable? I got a cable that is supposed to work from the guy I bought it from, but it has a male that goes to the antenna and a female to the unit. Just won't work. Thanks.

[Doug Weston]

where do you have the antennae mounted? It can make a difference, also how long is your cable? it could make a difference, especially if it was hand made. I am not an expert on this particular model, but I have dealt with electronics for many years. The GPS system is really pretty fragile in terms of everything seems to have to be just right for it to work properly. I have been told even that the units that have the antennae built in to them loses signal quite often.

[S&M]

I'd like to help you, but I have a couple of questions for you so that I can help.

1) Are you using a LGC-2000 GPS receiver/antenna ?

2) What software "version # " do you have on your 26C ?

You can find what software version your unit has by turning on your unit, .......press "menu twice", scroll down and press "system set up" ......scroll down and press "software information".

You will see a "version #" for your unit. Please post this version #.

I can tell you that there has been an updated version for the LGC-2000 reciever/antenna, with an updated version for the 26c unit itself.

[Don House]

S&M great information, that really makes this site what it is!

Good Fishing

Capt. Don

[S&M]

Thank you Capt. Don,

Just trying to contribute some information to this website that you and the other contributors give time and time again.

[CMAC]

Try their website, it has alot of stuff including manuals for you particular unit.

[Fishrman]

Thanks

I will try to gather that information in the next couple of days. I am at work now, so can't do it. I know the antenna is new, or should I say, never been used. I have the antenna mounted up front with the unit, it is mounted on the front of the boat between the trolling motor bracket and the insert for the navigation light. I have seen a few mounted up there, so I assumed it worked. A friend of mine mounted his humminbird antenna there and it worked fine. I will try to get that info. S&M. Thanks guys.

[Dutch]

A couple of possibilities come to mind. Your trolling motor or bracket may be taking the sats out at certain angles. Another possibility is WAAS may be selected. That can cause the problem. If require WAAS is selected unselect it.

[SKMO]

Thanks

I will try to gather that information in the next couple of days. I am at work now, so can't do it. I know the antenna is new, or should I say, never been used. I have the antenna mounted up front with the unit, it is mounted on the front of the boat between the trolling motor bracket and the insert for the navigation light. I have seen a few mounted up there, so I assumed it worked. A friend of mine mounted his humminbird antenna there and it worked fine. I will try to get that info. S&M. Thanks guys.

Fishrman - I have a 25C up front and have the antenna mounted in almost the same spot as you do (on the deck between the trolling motor bracket and the TM foot control). I think the instructions said the antenna and the unit should be separated farther than that but since I vertical fish a lot over small pieces of structure I wanted the antenna as close as possible to the "fishing position". I had read on some other boards that the proximity does not always cause problems (but sometimes can) so went ahead an put it there.

I noticed right off that on the initial start up I would get the message "unable to acquire satellites" or something like that. It always happens. However if I leave the unit on and disconnect, then reconnect the antenna from the back of the unit it always immediately acquires the signal. Also, if I am patient and just leave it on it will eventually acquire the signal but may take 10-30 minutes.

I unmounted the antenna and tested it farther away but got same results. I decided this was not a major problem and just deal with it by disconnecting and reconnecting the antenna upon start up. As S&M suggested I guess I need to see what my software version is. If you can't figure out what is going on with yours you might try moving your antenna farther away as a trial, maybe it would help.

[Doug Weston]

I agree with Dutch. Some of the satellites are low on the horizon and the trolling motor, or bracket could be part of the problem. Also it does make a difference if the antennae is very close to the receiver. I would say a foot or closer could cause interference, maybe even a little further if the power is high while transmitting(to the sonar transducer). the magnetic fields inside the actual 26c unit can cause enough interference that the processor filters out the real signal from the satellites when its trying to filter the interference. If there is an update, try and get it installed. I'm sure that if there is a problem, Lowrance is very good about fixing things in their updates. I have known some people that mounted their transducer under their console, and this has caused problems with reception so the bracket could easily cause some reception problems. I thought it sounded like you had a hand made cable and I was gonna suggest that was part of the problem, but if its a new antennae, i'm sure that is not the issue.